You have a pile of mixed metal scrap - shavings, powder, scrapings, what have you. You know that the batch probably contains quantities of platinum, gold, silver and maybe even platinum family metals like rhodium and osmium. And you also have a strong suspicion that your pile of stuff contains small quantities of stainless steel, aluminum, copper and other low-value metallic scrap.

Okay, you have a batch of that stuff. Now how are you going to separate the precious metals from the other “stuff” and find out what it’s all worth?

You could get started by stirring a magnet around in the powder and other stuff. That magnet will attract the ferrous metals - iron, steel, stainless steel, etc., so you can pull them out and set them aside. Unfortunately, your magnet will leave the other metals behind - gold, platinum, silver and even aluminum (which is not a precious metal) will still be sitting in your mixed batch of stuff.

The simple answer is, you don’t. Or more accurately, you can’t, unless you happen to have a large quantity of specialized equipment like the machines we use at Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners. How do we use that equipment? The answer is, it depends/ we will use different processes, depending on our initial analysis of your scrap.

We can burn your powder or subject it to extremely high temperatures to separate precious metals.

We can place your scrap in a chemicalbath to remove some of the precious metals from your batch of scrap.

We can even put your precious metal scrap into a centrifuge to separate the lighter metals from the heavier metals.

So you see . . .

When you have a mixed batch of powdery scrap, you need to call Specialty Metals Smelters and Refiners at 800-426-2344 and talk to us about having your scrap tested and processed.

Processing precious metal scrap is difficult for you, but easy for us because of our many years of experience. Be sure to call us to learn more.